South British Insurance, 448-456 Bourke Street & 155-161 Queen Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
Archives
Total copies: 1
Title:
South British Insurance, 448-456 Bourke Street & 155-161 Queen Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 108071
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materialsTextual material
Part of:
Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
Access restrictions:
UnrestrictedOpen access.
Use restrictions:
UnrestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
General notes:
RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2022:__________________________________________________DATE: 1962;ASSOCIATIONS: South British Insurance Company;DESIGNERS: Bates Smart & McCutcheon;BUILDERS: Costain, Hansen & YunckenPeriod: Post Second-WarNotable features: Emerging decorative use of structural expression on façade..CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWStatement of SignificanceWhat is significant?The former South British Insurance Company Ltd Building at 155-161 Queen Street, Melbourne, completed in 1962 to a design by Bates Smart and McCutcheon, is significant.Elements that contribute to the significance of the place include (but are not limited to):· Original building form and scale; and· Original non-loadbearing precast concrete curtain wall cladding including recessed window openings and transom panels set between concrete ‘pilasters’.Later alterations, particularly at street level, are not significant.How it is significant?The former South British Insurance Company Ltd Building at 155-161 Queen Street is of historical, representative and aesthetic significance to the City of Melbourne.Why it is significant?The former South British Insurance Company Ltd Building, designed and engineered by Bates Smart & McCutcheon and constructed in 1961-62, is historically significant for the evidence it provides of the rapid growth of corporate architecture in 1950s-60s’ Melbourne that reflected the expansion of large national and international companies opting for construction and naming rights of new city office buildings as a form of promotion and fund investment. Located in the financial and commercial precinct of Queen Street, the South British Insurance Company Ltd Building is significant historically as a reflection of the growth of insurance and assurance companies in Victoria during the 1950s-60s, cementing Melbourne's pre-eminent role in the state for financial institutions. The South British Insurance Company owned and occupied the building from 1962 to 1977. (Criterion A)The former South British Insurance Company Ltd Building is significant as a largely intact example of postwar commercial development in central Melbourne in the Post-War Modernist style that characterised this new wave of development. These buildings represented the new modernism in their modular, industrial Bauhaus inspired aesthetic and incorporated features such as consistent access to daylight and open floor plans to meet new standards for commercial office accommodation. The subject building exhibits the key characteristics of the style, including its non-loadbearing precast concrete curtain wall cladding, recessed window openings and transom panels set between concrete ‘pilasters’. (Criterion D)The former South British Insurance Company Ltd Building is aesthetically significant as a refined and substantial example of the later development in curtain wall design constructed during the 1960s when a mix of materials was utilised to create a greater modularity and three-dimensional quality to the facades. Its aesthetic significance lies in the retention of the fine detailing of its facades to both Queen Street and Bourke Street, where vertical modules of recessed glazing and opaque transom panels set between concrete mullions or ‘pilasters’ that are disconnected at each floor level create a horizontal shadow line and give a refined modularity to the facade. (Criterion E)Primary sourceHoddle Grid Heritage Review (Context & GJM Heritage, 2020).GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites RAIA (Vic) 20th C. Register;_________________________________________BUILDING IDEAS (CSR) March 1965Guide to Melbourne architecture: 103 South British Insurance Corner of Bourke and Queen Streets 1961Bates, Smart and McCutcheon_________________________________________City of Melbourne Building Permit Application1908 1080 office building for SBI;Upgrade?_________________________________________City of Melbourne online mapsTwelve storey concrete office building with basement parking and ground level retail. Designed by Bates Smart & McCutcheon and built by Costain Hansen & Yuncken in 1961._________________________________________CROSS-SECTIONIssue No. 114April I, 1962 (see image)`6. South British Insurance Co, Bourke & Queen Streets.In the trend from slick glass curtain wall cladding to more heavily modelled facades there will come a stage in which development becomes decadence. This bldg may bring about the fall, not because it is itself decadent, but because there are few arch'I firms that can attempt this sort of surface enrichment and get away with it. South British succeeds by tasteful choice of colour & texture and by the consistent articulation of the different elements of the facade as separate entities. The cruciform white artificial stone panels (each 11 feet high & weighing half a +on) are delineated floor-by-floor by a continuous band of black vitreous tiles, and a small gap between adjacent units prevents the facade from tending to assume a monolithic character. The Skidmore Owings & Merrill design for a bldg in Brussels has a comparable system of articulated panels, but in the SOM design these panels were also the structural system — and this is where the danger lies, that in using a motif that began as a structural concept as a device for getting 'expression' into wall cladding, caprice and whimsicality may oust common sense and sound design. The ground floor of South British is devoted to a luxurious lift lobby and some very good planting and landscaping. Air conditioning: low velocity to central zone, individually controlled high velocity induction units around the perimeter. Bates, Smart & McCutcheon, archts & engrs; Costain, Hansen & Yuncken, bldrs. Cost £370,000.(Cross-section)_________________________________________CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWHO1368Former South British Insurance Company Ltd Building155-161 Queen Street Melbourne(1961-1962)Architect: Bates Smart & McCutcheonSignificance· Historically significant as a reflection of the growth of insurance and assurance companies, and for the rapid growth of corporate architecture in the 1950s-60s.· Significant as representative of a Post-War Modernist style commercial development, incorporating features such as consistent access to daylight and open floor plans.· Aesthetically significant for its retention of fine detailing and modularity to the Queen Street and Bourke Street façades..SITE HISTORYPrior to the construction of the subject building, its site, part of Crown Allotment 8, Block 19, was occupied by a series of buildings that ranged from two to five storeys. The buildings at the corner of the site, at the intersection of Bourke and Queen streets, were known as the Sun Buildings, built by 1895, in which year the subject site was addressed as 448-450 Bourke Street (Mahlstedt Map Section 1, no 16, 1925; CoMMaps).The subject building was completed for the South British Insurance Company Ltd in 1962 (See Figure 1). Architects Bates Smart & McCutcheon were responsible for the design and engineering of the building, and Costain, Hansen & Yuncken were the builders (Cross Section 1962:3). The building was completed at a cost of £370,000 (Cross Section 1962:3).The South British Insurance Company was founded in New Zealand in 1872 as the South British Fire & Marine Insurance Company of New Zealand, issuing their first policy in August of that year (Aviva 2019). By 1906, the company offered insurance policies across most sectors, including accident insurance, while maintaining their interests in maritime risks. In 1907, the company introduced its first motor insurance policy, a reflection of an increase in car ownership at the time. In 1907, the company was incorporated to become the South British Insurance Company Ltd (Aviva 2019).By 1886, the South British Insurance Company Ltd had established branches in almost every major city in Australia, and was beginning to acquire other insurance companies, such as the Commercial Insurance Company of Australia. The firm was registered at 11 Queen Street, Melbourne, by 1889, and in 1908 it purchased a site in Queen Street where it planned to build an office for £20,000 (Aviva 2019).After the 1967 takeover of Australian Capital Assurance Ltd, the South British Insurance Company Ltd the company continued to grow, establishing branches in many Australian regional cities, as well as internationally (Aviva 2019).The South British Insurance Company Ltd amalgamated with the New Zealand Insurance Company Ltd in 1981, at which point the firm was named the New Zealand South British Group Ltd. In 1984, New Zealand South British changed its name to the NZI Corporation Ltd, which was acquired by the General Accident Fire & Life Assurance Corporation in 1989, which the Aviva Group took over in 2002 (Aviva 2019).When it opened in 1962, the building was described by the architecture journal, Cross Section:In the trend from slick glass curtain wall cladding to more heavily modelled facades there will come a stage in which development becomes decadence. This building may bring about the fall, not because it is itself decadent, but because there are few architectural firms that can attempt this sort of surface enrichment and get away with it. South British succeeds by tasteful choice of colour and texture and by the consistent articulation of the different elements of the facade as separate entities. The cruciform white artificial stone panels (each 11 feet high and weighing half a ton) are delineated floor-by-floor by a continuous band of black vitreous tiles, and a small gap between adjacent units prevents the facade from tending to assume a monolithic character. The Skidmore Owings & Merrill design for a building in Brussels has a comparable system of articulated panels, but in the SOM design these panels were also the structural system — and this is where the danger lies, that in using a motif that began as a structural concept as a device for getting "expression" into wall cladding, caprice and whimsicality may oust common sense and sound design. The ground floor of South British is devoted to a luxurious lift lobby and some very good planting and landscaping. Air conditioning: low velocity to central zone, individually controlled high velocity induction units around the perimeter (Cross Section 1962:3).The planting and landscaping referred to in the article in Cross Section and seen in Figure 2 was removed in 1975 as part of substantial remodelling work carried out to the building at this time. The illuminated roof of this section of the building, also seen in Figure 2, was also removed as part of the 1975 work (MBAI 45891). Other work to the building consisted of the construction of internal partitions to the offices at varying times (MBAI). The building was auctioned in 1986, when it was described in a sales notice as ‘a prominent city building in the heart of the commercial district’. It was refurbished in 1988 (Age 4 December 1986:31; 28 March 1988:32).Figure 1. South British Insurance building, corner of Bourke and Queen Streets, 1961. (Source: Sievers 1961, SLV copyright)Figure 2. The entrance to the subject building as it appeared when it was built in 1961-62. (Source: Sievers 1961, STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA copyright)The building has been used as offices, with multiple tenants in addition to the South British Insurance Company. By 1965, the building was tenanted by the offices of the Home Insurance Company, Harford Fire Insurance, a values assessor, the head office of Alcoa of Australia Pty Ltd (located in the building from 1962), and a shipping agency. All these firms were still present in 1970 (S&Mc 1965, 1970; Age 20 June 1962:22). By 1974, of this tenant group only the South British Insurance Company and the value assessor remained (S&Mc 1974). By 1977 the building was tenanted by Mutual Permanent Building Society and an image of the subject site can be seen in an advertisement from that time (see Figure 3). South British Insurance Company remained at the site until at least 1977 (Age 15 November 1977:7, Age 1 January 1977:41).Since the mid-1990s, the building has been used as offices by multiple tenants, including accountants, solicitors and employment agencies (Age 1 November 1995:33; Age 27 September 1996:7; Age 1 August 1998:125). It is currently occupied by 19 businesses and four shops (CoMMaps).Figure 3. The subject site, as it appeared in advertisements for the Mutual Permanent Building Society. (Source: Age 15 November 1977:7).Bates Smart & McCutcheon, architectsBates, Smart & McCutcheon (BSM) was formed when Osborn McCutcheon joined the existing firm of Bates & Smart in 1926. Bates & Smart had itself been born out of previous iterations of a firm that could be traced back to Reed & Barnes, thus making it one of the oldest practices in the country (Goad 2012:72). By the 1960s the firm had become one of the largest practices in the country (Goad 2012:72).During the 1930s, BSM had earned a reputation for designing Georgian-style residences, but also went on to win RVIA awards for their work on the AMP Building in Collins Street, Buckley & Nunn Building in Bourke Street (now David Jones), and a church in Camberwell (Goad 2012:73).By the 1950s, BSM had become Australia’s ‘expert’ in high-rise office buildings (Goad 2012:73). Much of their work at this time was large structures with glass curtain walls, and in Melbourne this was exemplified by ICI House which broke the city’s height limits (Goad 2012:73).At the time, the firm also developed a reputation for their work on university and other educational facilities. They were responsible for much of the laying out of Monash University, as well as the construction of some of their original buildings, and had a hand in designing RMIT (Goad 2012:73). Commissions for schools include Yarra Valley Grammar School, Wesley College’s Syndal campus, and the Peninsula Grammar School (Goad 2012:73). Their best-known piece of educational work is most likely Wilson Hall at the University of Melbourne, which was built on the site of an earlier Reed & Barnes Gothic structure (Goad 2012:73). Wilson Hall features a sculpture by Tom Bass, as does 160 Queen Street Melbourne (also designed by BSM), and the subject site (the sculpture of which is missing), showing a relationship between BSM and the sculptor.BSM has continued to be an influential firm in the time since the construction of the subject site. Notable work by the firm includes the Crown Casino and promenade, and the Royal Children’s Hospital (Goad 2012:74). BSM has also been involved in large collaborative designs in Melbourne with international architects, such as Melbourne Central with Kisho Kurokawa, Collins Place with I M Pei, and Federation Square with Lab Architecture Studio (Goad 2012:74)..Costain, Hansen & Yuncken, buildersOtto Yuncken was born in Lyndoch, South Australia in 1865 and trained as a carpenter under his German-born father. Together they built simple structures in the Barossa Valley before Otto left for Port Adelaide at the age of 18 (Carland 2009). By 1885 Yuncken had moved to Melbourne and taken up work with Clements Langford, one of the city's largest building companies. During his time with Clements Langford, Yuncken studied at the Working Men's College and attained first class in architectural drawing and carpentry (Carland 2009). After leaving Clements Langford, Yuncken partnered with Lauritz Hansen in 1918 to form Hansen & Yuncken (Hansen Yuncken 2019).In 1962-63, the firm Hansen & Yuncken became Costain, Hansen & Yuncken Ltd (Cross Section 1 April 1963:1; NSW State Records 74116).Hansen & Yuncken was responsible for some of Melbourne’s ‘most memorable buildings’ (Carland 2009). Earlier works include the Collingwood Football Club Grandstand, the Port Authority building in Market Street (Carland 2009). The firm was responsible for renovations to Myer buildings and constructed the new spires at St. Patrick's Cathedral. The company also devised an innovative suspended scaffold to replaster the domed ceiling at the State Library of Victoria (Carland 2009).The company exists today as Hansen Yuncken and has built many notable structures over the past decade, including the Myponga Damn (1959), The Alfred Hospital (1969-77) and Council House 2 for the City of Melbourne (2006) (Hansen Yuncken 2019).
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1261312
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 108071 | 1 PDF : 856 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |